Automatic door closer with substantially prism-shaped housing

ABSTRACT

An automatic door closer includes a substantially prism-shaped housing adapted to be attached to the exterior of the upper edge of a door or a door frame. The housing is formed with a cylindrical bore in which a spring acting as energy storing means and a damping arrangement including a piston axially movable in the bore are located. The housing comprises a cylindrical portion with an outer substantially cylindrical surface coaxial with the cylindrical bore and substantially parallel plane top and bottom walls extending along the cylindrical portion integral therewith and having end edges located in two parallel planes normal to the top and bottom walls. A cover sheet is connected to those end edges which, in the attached position of the door closer, face away from the door or the door frame to which the housing is attached.

[ 5] Jan. 29, 1974' AUTOMATIC DOOR CLOSER WITH SUBSTANTIALLY PRISM-SHAPED HOUSING [75] lnventor: Dietrich Jentsch, Ennepetal, Germany [73] Assignee: Dorma-Baubes'chlag GmbH & C0. KG, Ennepetal-Voerde, Germany [221Filedz Jan. 17, 1973 21 Appl. No.: 324,518

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Jan. 18, 1972 Germany....' 2202084 52 vs. C]. 16/49 [51] Int. Cl E05f 3/00 [58] Field of Search 16/DIG.--9, DIG. 10, 70, 71, 16/51, 52, 56-58, 53, 62, 65, 66, 49, 55

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,082,455 6/1937 Lasier 16/49 2,909,801 10/1959 Ellis et al. 16/62 9/1964 Martin 3,188,682 6/l965 Check et al Primary Examiner-Donald A. Griffin Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Michael S. Striker 5 7] ABSTRACT An automatic door closer includes a substantially prism-shaped housing adapted to be attached to the exterior of the upper edge of a door or a door frame. The housing is formed with a cylindrical bore in which a spring acting as energy storing means and a damping arrangement including a piston axially movable in the bore are located. The housing comprises a cylindrical portion with an outer substantially cylindrical surface coaxial with the cylindrical bore and substantially parallel plane top and bottom walls extending. along the cylindrical portion integral therewith and having end edges located in two parallel planes normal to the top and bottom walls. A cover sheet is connecEd to those end edges which, in the attached position of the door closer, face away from the door or the door frame to which the housing is attached.

9 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures AUTOMATIC DOOR CLOSER WITH SUBSTANTIALLY PRISM-SHAPED HOUSING BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an automatic door closer in which the housing is substantially in the shape of an elongated prism to beattached in substantially horizontal position to the exterior of the upper end of a door or door frame. Such automatic door closers, well known in the art, include a cylindrical bore axially extending through the housing in which a spring acting as an energy storing means as well as a damping arrangement including a piston movable in axial direction of the bore are located. The closer shaft of this known door closer is provided with a pinion meshing with a rack fixed to the damping piston and axially mobable with the latter. The face of the elongated housing of known doorclosers of this type which face away from the door or the door frame to which the closer housing is attached is substantially plane, which gives the housing a neat appearance, but which requires proper finishing of this housing face. Furthermore, this known prism-shaped housing requires a relatively large amount of material for its manufacture. It is also known to provide in housings of the aforementioned type, on the surface thereof which abuts against the door or the door frame, shallow recesses to assure a proper abutment of the housing onto the surface of the door or the door frame, but the saving of material, assuming the housing is formed from a casting, obtained by such shallow recesses is relatively small.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide in a door closer of the aforementioned kind a housing of substantially prism-shaped appearance which can be manufactured with a minimum of machining and in which the necessary material for forming the housing is greatly reduced as compared with housings of door closers of the aforementioned kind known in the art.

With these and other objects in view, which will become apparent as the description proceeds, the housing of the automatic door closer according to the present invention is provided with a cylindrical axially extending bore adapted to receive a spring acting as energy storing means and damping means with a piston axially movable in the bore and the housing comprises a cylindrical portion with an outer substantially cylindrical surface substantially coaxial with the bore and a pair of substantially plane wall portions extending in the mounted position of the door closer in substantially horizontal direction integrally cast with the cylindrical portion and having end edges respectively located in a pair of spaced planes substantially .normal to the plane wall portions. The distance between the pair of the aforementioned planes is preferably slightly greater than the diameter of the outer surface of the cylindrical wall portion and the housing includes also a cover sheet removably attached to those two end edges of the plane wall portions which. in the mounted position of the door closer. face away from the member to which the housing is attached. In a housing ofthe aforementioned kind it is possible to form the wall thickness of the housing exclusively in accordance with the stress imparted thereto substantially independent of the outer shape of the housing, and the visible face of the housing, in the mounted position of the latter, can be formed by a relatively thin sheet metal having the desired surface quality. In this way the necessary material for forming the housing can be greatly reduced as well as the necessary machining to give the housing the proper appearance and to assure proper abutment of the housing on the door or the door frame on which the housing has to be mounted.

The housing preferably includes a plurality of bosses inwardly of and integral with the aforementioned plane wall portions on opposite sides of the cylindrical portion and respectively formed with bores therethrough for attaching the housing to the door or the door frame. Preferably, the housing includes further reinforcing ribs extending transversely to the plane wall portions on that side of the cylindrical portion which, in the mounted position of the door closer, faces the door or the door frame to which the housing is to be attached.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG.1 is a perspective view of the door closer according to the present invention showing the cover sheet displaced in axial direction from the actual housing;

FIG. 2 is a cross section taken along the line ll-ll of FIG. 3 or 4;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the housing with the cover sheet removed; and

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the housing.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT vice versa, that is the housing 10 may be attached exteriorally to the door frame and the free end of the linkage means 12 to the-upper edge of the door. The housing 10 is formed with an axially extending cylindrical bore therethrough, not shown in the drawing, and a spring, preferably a coil-compression spring, is located in the axial bore abutting with one end against a piston axially movable in this bore. The closure shaft is provided with a pinion fixedthereto for rotation therewith, and a piston rod connected to the piston is formed in part as a rack meshing with the pinion so that during turning of the door to an open position the piston is moved in axial direction thereby compressing the spring, which therefore forms an energy storing means,

which upon release of the door in open position expands to turn the door toward the closed position. The piston forms part of a damping arrangement damping the movement of the door toward the closed position. The aforementioned described elements including the closure shaft and the elements cooperating therewith are well known in the art and do not form part of the present invention and are therefore not shown in the drawing.

The housing of the door closer comprises a cylindrical portion 13 with an outer cylindrical surface substantially coaxial with the axis of the aforementioned bore, and a pair of substantially parallel plane wall portions 14 and 15 extending in the mounted position of the door closed in substantially horizontal direction and being integral with the cylindrical portion 13. The wall portions 14 and 15 have end edges respectively located in a pair of spaced planes substantially normal to the parallel wall portions 14 and 15, and the distance between the pair of planes in which the aforementioned end edges are located is preferably slightly greater than the diameter of the outer surface of the cylindrical portion 13. A plurality of bosses l8 and 19 are formed inwardly of the faces of the wall portions 14 and 15 which face each other in the space between the aforementioned inner faces of the wall portions 14 and 15 and the outer surface of the cylindrical portion 13. The bosses 18 and 19 respectively located on the rear and front sides of the housing are aligned with each other in planes normal to the axis of the cylindrical bore through the housing and they are formed with bores therethrough adapted to received screws by means of which the housing may be connected to the door or the door frame. These bores are preferably counter-sunk at the front side of the housing, as indicated in FIG. 3 so that the heads of the screws will not protrude beyond the front face of the housing. A- plurality of reinforcing ribs 20 are provided between transversely aligned bosses 19 on the rear side of the housing, as shown in FIG. 4, and this rear side may also be provided with additional cross ribs 21 which form additional abutment faces on the rear side of the housing. The housing includes further a pair of end walls 16 and 17 integral with the wall portions 14 and 15 and normal thereto. The aforementioned cylindrical bore extending axially through the housing extends at least through one, and preferably through both, of the aforementioned end walls and the ends of the bore are closed by plugs 22, which are preferably in the form of a screw plugs threadedly connected to correspondingly threaded ends of the bore in the end walls, as shown in FIG. 1 at the right end of the housing.

The closer housing 10 which appears in mounted position as a prism-shaped housing is covered at the front side thereof with a cover sheet 11, shown in FIG. 1 in withdrawn'position, which covers the various recesses formed in the housing. The cover sheet 11, which is preferably formed of sheet metal, may be slidingly arranged in dovetail grooves formed at the left end edges, as viewed in FIG. 2, of the parallel wall portions 14 and 15 of the housing. Of course, it is possible to removably attach the cover sheet 11 in any other suitable manner to the housing.

A throttle bore in which an adjustable throttle member is located provides communication between portions of the cylindrical bore to opposite sides of the pis ton movable therein,and the wall portion in which the throttle bore is located is indicated at 23 in FIG. 3 of the drawing. whereas the outer end of the throttle member for adjusting the flow of air through the throttle bore is indicated at 24 in FIG. 1.

The above-mentioned closure shaft extends in vertical direction through the housing and with opposite ends slightly beyond the outer surfaces of the wall portions 14 and 15. The linkage means 12 is connected to the upper end of the closure shaft, where as the lower 0 end is covered by a removable cap 25 shown in FIG. 1.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of automatic door closers differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in an automatic door closer having a housing of prism-shaped appearance, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims:

1. In an automatic door closer, a combination comprising housing means and linkage means connected to said housing means, one of said means being adapted to be attached to the exterior ofa door member and the other of said means to a frame member, said housing means being provided with a cylindrical bore adapted to receive a spring acting as energy storing means and damping means including a piston axially movable in said bore, said housing means comprising a cylindrical portion with an outer substantially cylindrical surface substantially coaxial with the axis of said bore; and a pair of substantially parallel plane wall portions extending in the mounted position of the door closer in substantially horizontal direction-,integral with said cylindrical portion andhaving end edges respectively located in a pair of spaced planes substantially normal to said parallel wall portions. g

2. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein the distance between said pair of planes in which said end edges are located is slightly greater than the diameter of said outer surface of said cylindrical portion of said housing means.

3. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said housing means includes a pair of end walls integral with said cylindrical portion and said plane wall portions and located respectively in planes normal to said plane wall portions.

4. A combination as defined in claim 3, wherein said cylindrical bore of said housing means extends through at least one of said end walls and including means in at least said one end wall for closing said bore.

5. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said housing means includes a plurality of bosses inwardly of andintegral with said plane wall portions on opposite sides of said cylindrical portion and respectively formed with bores therethrough for attaching said housing means.

6. A combination as defined in claim 5, wherein said bosses are aligned in pairs in a plurality of planes extending normal to the axis of said bore, and including reinforcing ribs extending between said aligned bosses on that side of said cylindrical portion which, in the mounted position of the door closer, faces the member to which said housing means is attached.

7. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said housing means includes a cover sheet removably attachable to said housing means in the region of those two end edges of said plane wall portions which, in the 

1. In an automatic door closer, a combination comprising housing means and linkage means connected to said housing means, one of said means being adapted to be attached to the exterior of a door member and the other of said means to a frame member, said housing means being provided with a cylindrical bore adapted to receive a spring acting as energy storing means and damping means including a piston axially movable in said bore, said housing means comprising a cylindrical portion with an outer substantially cylindrical surface substantially coaxial with the axis of said bore; and a pair of substantially parallel plane wall portions extending in the mounted position of the door closer in substantially horizontal direction, integral with said cylindrical portion and having end edges respectively located in a pair of spaced planes substantially normal to said parallel wall portions.
 2. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein the distance between said pair of planes in which said end edges are located is slightly greater than the diameter of said outer surface of said cylindrical portion of said housing means.
 3. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said housing means includes a pair of end walls integral with said cylindrical portion and said plane wall portions and located respectively in planes normal to said plane wall portions.
 4. A combination as defined in claim 3, wherein said cylindrical bore of said housing means extends through at least one of said end walls and including means in at least said one end wall for closing said bore.
 5. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said housing means includes a plurality of bosses inwardly of and integral with said plane wall portions on opposite sides of said cylindrical portion and respectively formed with bores therethrough for attaching said housing means.
 6. A combination as defined in claim 5, wherein said bosses are aligned in pairs in a plurality of planes extending normal to the axis of said bore, and including reinforcing ribs extending between said aligned bosses on that side of said cylindrical portion which, in the mounted position of the door closer, faces the member to which said housing means is attached.
 7. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said housing means includes a cover sheet removably attachable to said housing means in the region of those two end edges of said plane wall portions which, in the mounted position of the door closer, face away from the member to which said housing means is attached.
 8. A combination as defined in claim 7, wherein said two end edges are provided with dovetail grooves into which said cover sheet is slidably insertable.
 9. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said housing means includes reinforcing ribs extending transverse to said plane wall portions on that side of said cylindrical portion which in the mounted position of the door closer, faces the member to which said housing means is attached. 